Lord of the Flies Written by William Golding

Lord of the Flies

By: William Golding

This book is titled, "Lord of the flies" written by William Golding in the early 1950s in Salisbury England. It takes place in a deserted tropical island. Where the main protagonist is Ralph, a twelve-year-old English boy. This is a novel that explores themes about civilization and at the same time savagery. In the middle of world war II a plane evacuating a group of schoolboys from Britain is shot down over a deserted tropical island. There are no grownups in the island just the schoolboys by themselves. When Ralph and Piggy (who can be presented as Ralph's lieutenant) discover a conch shell on the beach, Piggy realizes that it could be used as horn to convoke the lost boys in the island. When Ralph had finished calling the boys, they set about electing a leader and devise a way to be rescued. They choose Ralph as a leader, however jack longs for total power and is not happy with the decision. However Jack ignores him and appoints him to be in charge of the boys who will hunt food for the entire group.

Ralph, Jack and another boy named Simon, a shy, sensitive boy set off on an expedition to explore the island when they returned, Ralph declares that they must light a signal fire to attract the attention of passing ships. They decide the signal fire will be up on the mountain and later on the beach. They succeed in igniting some wood by focusing sunlight through the lenses of Piggy's eyeglasses. However the boys were more interested in playing than monitoring fire and the flames rapidly engulfed the forest as a result a little boy disappears presumably having burned to death just because they weren't careful enough. They continue enjoying their life but one day a ship passes by on the horizon Ralph and Piggy notice that the signal fire which was the hunter's responsibility to maintain has burned out. Ralph gets really mad and accuses jack for not being responsible enough.

In my opinion the signal fire was really important to all of them because they knew that if they kept the signal fire alive the passing ships will notice it and they will be able to rescue them and they will return to society. However when the fire burns low and goes out we realize that they have lost their desire of being rescue and have accepted their savage lives on the island. We know that the signal fire functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. We know this because everybody even if we are in the city we use fire to survive just as they did just in a different way, to be rescue. I mention "We know that the signal fire functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island" because now some of those kids do not think like civilized no more, Jack who represents unbridled savagery and the desire of power and Roger who represents brutality and bloodlust at their most extreme. They've turned savages and they've forgot how to act as civilized